Full Attention

Over here, I have quite a bit of stuff to be thankful for! We recently got the whole city team together for a fantastic Thanksgiving party, which was a welcome reminder of back home.

Also, a couple weeks ago we arrived back from being on the road again. This time our travels took us to a city in a neighboring province for a week, which was great as it allowed us to actually unpack our bags, stay for a while, have some fun with the team (including some other long-term missionaries in the city), and best of all, to spread the good news on one of the universities there. And thanks to God that meant we got to see a new brother, Henry, join the family!

After our stay there, we went to another country for a few days in order to renew our visas, which provided us with the chance to soak up some warm weather for a few days before coming back.

But perhaps the highlight for me and my roomies, Sonic and Booth, happened about a week ago when we got to see one of our good friends come into the family. Robin is a young, energetic handful of a guy who has a passion for life, and one of the first friends we made over here. It was always a good time when we saw him. But while we always had fun, we found it a little tricky to share with him as it was hard to keep him from changing the topic to things he found more interesting. So we got the impression that while he loved to hang out, he wasn’t really interested in giving his life to God. The other week, however, all that changed on a dime as Booth and I shared the good news with him over a cafeteria lunch on campus, and this time we finally, finally had his full attention. Once he heard the full story about what God had done for him, he was sold on the idea of becoming part of God’s family!

It was a really special moment to watch our friend who we’d known since the beginning of the trip finally give his life to God. After leading him in his first prayer and watching the expression on his face change, I asked him how he felt, to which he replied: “It’s crazy…”